robin brant, bbc news, shanghai. thank you so much for your company here on bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. rescue teams in canada are trying to reach 18,000 people stranded by floods and mudslides in the western province of british columbia. although water levels are starting to recede, entire towns remain cut off and many roads are blocked. there are fears that the flooding could cause nationwide shortages. a us state governor has halted the execution of prisonerjuliusjones hours before he was due to be put to death. jones was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing a man in a car—jacking incident. he maintains his innocence. his sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment without parole. there had been an outpouring of appeals and hundreds protested to halt the execution. germany has announced tough measures to exclude the unvaccinated from certain public events. healthcare workers and employees in care homes will be obliged to get the vaccine. germany's lower house of parliament approved new measures, including restricting access to public tr

robin brant, bbc news, shanghai. a us state governor has halted the execution of prisoner juliusjones hours before he was due to be put to death. julius jones was sentenced to death for the murder of paul howell, during a car—jacking in 1999. he has always maintained his innocence. his case has attracted high—profile support, including from reality star, kim kardashian west. the murder victim's family said they recognised the governor had a difficult decision to make, but said they took comfort that it affirmed the guilt ofjuliusjones. 0klahoma state representative forrest bennett welcomed the governor's decision. victory for the people of oklahoma is that the system works the way it should. to those who disagree, julius is not free tonight. but he is also going to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning and i think that is pretty great. kelli masters is an attorney and advocate forjulius jones. shejoins me now from oklahoma city. i understand thatjulius asked you to speak at his clemency hearing. what i

robin brant, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news: a us state governor has halted the execution of prisoner, juliusjones, hours before he was due to be put to death. jones was sentenced to death in 2002, for killing a man in a carjacking incident. he maintains his innocence. his sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment without parole. there had been an outpouring of appeals and hundreds protested to halt the excution. the cricketer, azeem rafiq, has apologised and said he had "absolutely no excuse" for using anti—semitic language in messages on social media from 2011. two days ago the former spinner gave evidence to mps about racism he'd experienced within cricket, calling his treatment inhumane. rafiq also later apologised on thursday for an instagram meme containing a saying relating to african people. germany has announced tough measures to exclude the unvaccinated from certain public events. healthcare workers and employees in care homes will be obliged to get the vaccine. germany's

here's our correspondent in shanghai robin brant. the fact that these two men have met and the meeting passed off without incident i think will be offered up as a sign of success by both sides. that is because leading into this in the months and years preceding, the relationship between washington, dc and beijing has descended into outright hostility. as mostly defined by donald trump's administration, the trade war that was initiated. but remember as well at the beginning of this year in the early days ofjoe biden�*s administration we had a near—calamitous meeting between each country's respective foreign ministers. since then, as well, the us has accused china of carrying out genocide in the west of its own country and just in the last few weeksjoe biden said his military would come to the aid of taiwan, it would defend taiwan if that island was attacked. so the fact that these two met, it appeared cordial with waving hands at the beginning and smiling faces, i think will be seen as a sign of success. the one big achievement, f

our china correspondent robin brant reports from shanghai. for years, peng shuai has let her racket do the talking, and she's risen to the top, a star in a sport where there are not many chinese success stories. at 35, she is someone the ruling communist party leaders could be proud of. but an allegation about one of those senior party figures change that. in this social media posting earlier this month, peng named vice premier zhang gaoli, and claimed he forced her to have sex. china state censors removed the posting within an hour. peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly challenge senior authorities like zhang gaoli without paying some price, and i think it would be telling if she were able to leave the country, for example, and speak freely, where she wouldn't face those kinds of repercussions. in the ensuing days, tennis stars old and new spoke out, worried about her. billiejean king and naomi osaka were among them. then, in the middle of the night, an e—mail appeared, or at least what one

our correspondent robin brant is in shanghai and told us more about the email. it popped up overnight. it is the first communication apparently from peng shuai. it starts with the words, "hello, everyone." even though it was purportedly sent to steve simon, the man in charge of the woman's tennis association. it goes on to say that the allegations made against the vice premier a couple of weeks ago, it says they are false. it says though she is safe, she is not hiding, everything is fine, she says, apparently in this e—mail attributed to her, she says she is at home, resting. there are suspicions for numerous reasons about the authenticity of this e—mail. it popped up overnight and an image was put up on social media by cgtm, that is one arm of state media here. like i said, the opening words, "hello, everyone", odd for an e—mail to a single man. there is a cursor as well on one of the lines you can see on the image so that has led to suspicions that perhaps it is a screenshot. so many questions, unanswered questions, and the most strongest coming from ste

let's talk to our correspondent in shanghai, robin brandt. what other theories about where peng shuai is? that what other theories about where peng shuai is? . , , , what other theories about where peng shuaiis? ., , , , , , ., shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer. shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer- we _ shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer. we just _ shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer. we just don't _ shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer. we just don't know. - shuai is? that is pretty simple to answer. we just don't know. she| shuai is? that is pretty simple to - answer. we just don't know. she has answer. wejust don't know. she has answer. wejust don't know. she has a home apparently in a major city on the east coast several hundred miles from where i am talking to you from at the moment. she is originally from a province west of here but we just don't know. all we have is that posting on her social media accounts two weeks ago, a lengthy posting making those startling allegations and since then we haven't seen

head of women's tennis says she has a hard time believing that it's genuine. 0ur china correspondent, robin brant, reports from shanghai. for years, peng shuai has let her racket do the talking, and she's risen to the top, a star in a sport where there are not many chinese success stories. at 35, she is someone the ruling communist party leaders could be proud of. but an allegation about one of those senior party figures change that. in this social media posting earlier this month, peng named vice premier zhang gaoli, and claimed he forced her to have sex. china proper state censors remove the posting within an hour. peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since. few peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since.— heard from since. few people are allowed to _ heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly _ heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly challenge - heard from since. few people are l allowed to publicly challenge senior authorities like zhang gaoli without paying _ authorities like zhang gaoli without paying some price, and i think it would _ paying